Luca turned three months on Tuesday, and he's been going through a growth spurt, which includes excessive crying and eating, leaving us, especially Kyra, exhausted, even more so since the holidays just ended.

We had quite a busy holiday season this year. Christmas Eve we attended Kyra's paternal family for food and gifts. This party is chaos every year, with kids running around everywhere, massive amounts of food and presents, and eventually the entire living room scattered with gift wrapping. This year the family also added a "white elephant" event for the adults. It was getting late and Luca was tired, so we left before that occurred. Other than that the party was a lot of fun.

On Christmas day, Kyra's dad and her sister's family came over to our place for breakfast. We ate pancakes and opened presents from each other. Luca slept through it all. (Way to go, little guy: Miss your first Christmas!) Kyra's niece, Lilianna is very cute! (See the photos below with the little girl.) It had been a while since either of us had seen her. She wasn't walking or talking last time we saw her, so it was quite a treat.

That night, we drove to my parent's house and spent the night. We spent the next two days not doing very much, and on Friday night we opened presents. Saturday we went to my maternal grandparent's for yet another Christmas party. Some of my relatives had not yet met Luca, so it was fun to pass him around for everyone to meet. After the party, we went home.

On Sunday, Kyra's mom visited, and we went to my paternal grandmother's Christmas party. (Had enough parties yet??) We met at a restaurant, had a meal, and left after a short time. Luca was getting rather upset with us for breaking his routine so much, and he wasn't about to take it any more. I had to work the next day, too, so I wanted to get some rest at home.

I worked two days on the week of Christmas and two day on the week of New Year's Eve. It was great having two five-day weekends in a row, but it sure is difficult getting back to the opposite five-day work week!

Kyra's mom stayed for a few days, and we had planned to have her watch Luca on New Year's Eve so we could attend a game-theme party that we attended last year. Luca, however, decided to get sick with a great deal of congestion. We attended the party anyway, but we had to cut it short before midnight because Luca had not yet fallen asleep by 11:00 pm or so. Kyra played Zombies while I watched friends play Lego Batman on the Playstation 3, then we all played Apples to Apples. It was a lot of fun while it lasted. When we got home, Kyra went to feed Luca and we lost track of time. One of us looked at a clock and realized it was 12:15. "Oh, Happy New Year!"

New Year's Day, we crashed. Kyra's mom left for home. Friday I helped a friend move, although I wasn't feeling the best. The next day, I proceeded to get sick with whatever ailed Luca. Fortunately, it wasn't a very strong illness, as it only left me a bit groggy and stuffy. Over the last weekend of break, I slept a lot, trying to get better so I could go back to work full-time.

My sister visited this week and just left today. It was a trying week with Luca entering another growth spurt phase, so it was helpful to have another person around to help, especially since I started working full-time again.

Today marked the end of our holiday season, and Luca's first holiday season. We hope everyone had a great time. Thanks for all the presents and good wishes!